2022–23 Northern Premier League Premier Division

Northern Premier League Premier Division 2022–23
Season information
Winners	South Shields
Promoted	South Shields Warrington Town
Relegated	Nantwich Town Stalybridge Celtic Liversedge Belper Town
Season statistics
← 2021–22	2023–24 →

The 2022–23 season was the 55th season of the Northern Premier League. The league consists of three divisions, the Premier Division at Step 3 of the National League System, and the West and East Divisions at Step 4. The NPL continued this season with main sponsors Entain's Pitching In.

Team changes

The following 6 clubs left the Premier Division before the season:

• Basford United – transferred to the Southern League Premier Division Central
• Buxton – promoted to the National League North
• Grantham Town – relegated to Division One East
• Scarborough Athletic – promoted to the National League North
• Mickleover – transferred to the Southern League Premier Division Central
• Witton Albion – relegated to Division One West

The following 6 clubs joined the division before the season:

• Belper Town – promoted from Division One Midlands
• Guiseley – relegated from the National League North
• Liversedge – promoted from Division One East
• Marine – promoted from Division One West
• Marske United – promoted from Division One East
• Warrington Rylands 1906 – promoted from Division One West

Stadia and locations

Club	Location	Ground	Capacity
Ashton United	Ashton-under-Lyne	Hurst Cross	4,500
Atherton Collieries	Atherton	Alder Street	2,500
Bamber Bridge	Bamber Bridge	Irongate	2,264
Belper Town	Belper	Christchurch Meadow	2,650
FC United of Manchester	Manchester (Moston)	Broadhurst Park	4,400
Gainsborough Trinity	Gainsborough	The Northolme	4,304
Guiseley	Guiseley	Nethermoor Park	4,200
Hyde United	Hyde	Ewen Fields	4,250
Lancaster City	Lancaster	Giant Axe	3,500
Liversedge	Cleckheaton	Clayborn	2,000
Marine	Crosby	Rossett Park	3,185
Marske United	Marske-by-the-Sea	Mount Pleasant	2,500
Matlock Town	Matlock	Causeway Lane	2,214
Morpeth Town	Morpeth	Craik Park	1,500
Nantwich Town	Nantwich	The Weaver Stadium	3,500
Radcliffe	Radcliffe	Stainton Park	3,500
South Shields	South Shields	1st Cloud Arena	3,500
Stafford Rangers	Stafford	Marston Road	4,000
Stalybridge Celtic	Stalybridge	Bower Fold	6,500
Warrington Rylands 1906	Warrington	Gorsey Lane	1,345
Warrington Town	Warrington	Cantilever Park	3,500
Whitby Town	Whitby	Turnbull Ground	3,500

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	South Shields (C, P)	42	25	10	7	71	39	+32	85	Promotion to the National League North
2	Warrington Town (O, P)	42	21	14	7	70	39	+31	77	Qualification for the play-offs
3	Bamber Bridge	42	22	7	13	62	63	−1	73
4	Gainsborough Trinity	42	18	15	9	74	41	+33	69
5	Matlock Town	42	19	11	12	56	49	+7	68
6	Hyde United	42	18	12	12	64	42	+22	66
7	Radcliffe	42	17	15	10	55	49	+6	66
8	FC United of Manchester	42	19	9	14	68	48	+20	63
9	Marine	42	17	10	15	56	45	+11	61
10	Warrington Rylands 1906	42	17	9	16	64	55	+9	60
11	Lancaster City	42	15	13	14	51	51	0	58
12	Stafford Rangers	42	15	12	15	52	53	−1	57
13	Guiseley	42	16	7	19	54	54	0	55
14	Ashton United	42	16	8	18	58	64	−6	53
15	Whitby Town	42	14	10	18	45	54	−9	52
16	Marske United	42	15	5	22	57	79	−22	50
17	Morpeth Town	42	14	7	21	55	63	−8	49
18	Atherton Collieries	42	11	14	17	38	57	−19	47
19	Nantwich Town (R)	42	12	10	20	44	55	−11	46	Relegation to Step 4
20	Stalybridge Celtic (R)	42	10	12	20	50	64	−14	42
21	Liversedge (R)	42	11	7	24	48	86	−38	40
22	Belper Town (R)	42	7	9	26	44	86	−42	30

Source: NPL official site
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) number of matches won; 5) head-to-head results
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

• Ashton United were deducted three points for playing an ineligible player.
• FC United of Manchester were deducted three points for fielding 6 loan players.

Play-offs

		Semifinals				Final
	2	Warrington Town	4
	5	Matlock Town	1
						2	Warrington Town	1
						3	Bamber Bridge	0
	3	Bamber Bridge	1 (5)
	4	Gainsborough Trinity	1 (3)

Semi-finals

25 April 2023	Warrington Town	4–1	Matlock Town	Warrington
19:45	Duffy  13', 36' Dixon  29' Woods  40'	Report	Abbott  85'	Stadium: Cantilever Park Attendance: 1,897 Referee: Oliver Noonan

25 April 2023	Bamber Bridge	1–1 (5–3 pen)	Gainsborough Trinity	Bamber Bridge
19:45	Turner  22'	Report	Durose  42'	Stadium: Sir Tom Finney Stadium Attendance: 1,215 Referee: Declan Brown
		Penalties
	{{{penalties1}}}		{{{penalties2}}}

Final

29 April 2023	Warrington Town	1–0	Bamber Bridge	Warrington
15:00	Buckley-Ricketts  90'	Report		Stadium: Cantilever Park Attendance: 2,550 Referee: Lewis Dawson

Results table

Home \ Away	SOU	WAR	BAM	GAI	MAT	HYD	RAD	UOM	MAR	WRY	LNC	STA	GUI	ASH	WHI	MSK	MOR	ATH	NAN	STL	LIV	BEL
South Shields	—	2–1	5–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–2	2–1	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–1	3–3	4–2	4–2	1–0	0–0	3–2	2–0	5–2	2–1
Warrington Town	3–2	—	1–0	0–2	3–1	3–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	3–3	2–0	2–0	0–0	3–0	2–2	0–1	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	3–1
Bamber Bridge	2–1	3–2	—	1–1	5–1	1–0	1–3	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–2	2–1	2–2	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	2–2	5–1
Gainsborough Trinity	1–1	1–1	1–2	—	3–0	1–1	2–2	1–2	1–0	2–0	0–2	0–0	1–1	2–0	0–1	6–2	1–1	2–2	0–1	4–0	4–0	2–2
Matlock Town	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	—	1–1	2–2	1–0	3–2	4–2	1–0	3–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	4–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–2	4–0
Hyde United	0–1	2–2	7–0	1–0	0–1	—	1–1	1–0	4–0	0–1	1–2	1–0	2–1	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–1	4–2	2–0
Radcliffe	1–2	0–3	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	—	1–0	1–1	0–3	2–2	0–0	4–2	1–1	1–1	2–4	3–1	0–2	1–2	2–1	2–0	4–2
FC United of Manchester	2–1	1–1	5–2	1–3	2–1	4–4	1–2	—	1–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	4–0	2–2	2–1	4–2	1–2	0–0	1–1	2–3	2–0
Marine	2–2	1–2	2–3	0–2	0–1	0–0	0–1	3–0	—	1–3	0–0	1–0	1–3	1–1	2–0	1–0	4–2	4–0	0–3	1–0	5–0	2–1
Warrington Rylands 1906	0–1	1–2	2–0	0–3	1–2	2–4	4–0	0–0	1–0	—	2–1	1–1	2–1	0–3	2–0	3–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	3–1
Lancaster City	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–3	2–1	—	1–2	2–1	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–1
Stafford Rangers	3–0	1–1	4–2	3–4	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	2–2	2–1	—	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–2	3–0	0–3	2–0	1–2
Guiseley	1–0	1–3	0–1	0–1	2–1	2–3	1–3	2–1	0–3	1–1	0–0	4–0	—	1–2	2–1	1–3	1–0	3–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	0–1
Ashton United	1–1	2–1	3–0	2–3	0–1	0–6	1–2	0–5	1–1	3–1	2–4	1–1	2–0	—	0–1	1–2	1–0	3–0	0–1	2–1	1–2	3–1
Whitby Town	0–1	2–1	3–0	0–6	4–1	1–1	0–0	0–2	0–3	1–0	1–2	0–1	0–2	2–1	—	2–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	2–3	2–2
Marske United	0–4	1–2	1–2	0–3	2–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–1	2–0	2–3	3–2	2–4	2–1	0–0	—	2–1	2–3	2–2	4–2	2–2	3–1
Morpeth Town	0–1	0–4	1–1	2–0	2–0	3–0	0–1	0–1	0–2	3–3	6–3	2–1	1–3	3–1	0–1	1–1	—	3–0	2–1	3–2	0–2	0–2
Atherton Collieries	0–2	1–1	0–3	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–0	1–3	2–0	1–1	—	2–0	1–1	0–4	1–1
Nantwich Town	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–1	0–2	1–2	2–2	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	0–2	1–2	3–0	2–1	—	0–4	0–1	1–0
Stalybridge Celtic	3–3	0–1	1–0	2–0	2–3	2–2	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–2	1–0	0–2	0–0	1–4	0–1	2–3	0–3	3–3	1–2	—	4–2	2–1
Liversedge	0–1	0–4	1–2	1–0	0–2	1–3	1–1	0–4	1–0	2–5	1–1	3–3	2–1	0–1	0–3	0–1	1–4	0–1	3–3	0–1	—	1–3
Belper Town	0–1	1–1	0–2	1–4	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–4	1–2	0–5	1–2	2–1	1–3	0–4	2–2	0–1	1–2	2–0	1–3	2–0	1–2	—

Source: NPL official site
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Clayton Donaldson	Gainsborough Trinity	22
2	Regan Linney	F.C. United of Manchester	20
3	Adam Boyes	Marske United	18
	Fin Sinclair-Smith	Bamber Bridge
5	Liam Waldock	Gainsborough Trinity	17
6	Callum Dolan	Warrington Rylands	14
7	Sol Solomon	Marine	13
8	Darius Osei	South Shields	12
	Jack Redshaw	Hyde United

External links

• Current league tables